Have to agree with bob on this one, I like Clapton with a strat just fine, and watched a youtube not long ago of Crossroads that he played on a SG, and another vid with a Gibson 335. Didn't notice any huge difference in sound, it's not so much the guitar with Clapton I think, as it is the tone he uses on his amps.
I like a lot fatter sound myself, and I try to get the fattest, fullest sound I can whether I play my Strat, Peavey Patriot or Cort hollowbody. (The Peavey is kind of like a strat body with telecaster pickups, the Cort is dual Humbuckers so it's basically a hollowbody Les Paul.)
Clapton just likes more treble so it doesn't sound as fat. But grab a copy of his Journeyman CD and listen to Bad Love and a couple of other songs and you'll hear a nice fat sound, probably using a Strat, since he plays them almost exclusively these days. I think he also uses the bridge pickup a lot more rather than the neck or middle. I mostly use the middle and neck pickups, the bridge gets a little use a couple of times a night but the others are used a whole lot more. In earlier years Clapton sounded a lot like he was using the neck pickup a lot more.
My preference in tone has changed over the years too, when I was younger I used lots of treble, now I like loads of bottom end AND loads of treble...Like I always say, I want enough bass to sound like a 10 foot bulldog barking and enough treble to cut glass...in other words, a really full sound. Years ago I wanted lots of bite, so loads of treble. The guitar makes little difference, I get a nice full sound out of either, but the humbucker guitars do get more bite and a little fatter sound, but not as much difference as the amp settings make.
I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
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